Buffs Tied For 16th At Stacked Stanford Intercollegiate

STANFORD, Calif. — The University of Colorado women’s golf team is tied for 16^th place after the opening round of the Stanford Intercollegiate, played at the Stanford Golf Course on Friday.
 
The Buffaloes, shot 16-over-par, 300, matching the scores of No. 12 (Golfweek) ranked San Jose State and No. 23 Georgia. No. 7 UCLA leads after the first round at 10-under, five strokes ahead of No. 11 USC.
 
All 19 teams in the Stanford Intercollegiate field are ranked No. 60 or higher in the latest Golfweek national poll, including seven in the top 15. The Buffaloes, ranked 60^th, took on that field with three underclassmen and two golfers contributing to the team score on this level for the first time.
 
Freshman Vanessa Ngo and junior college All-American Maria Eidhagen Harrouch held their own against the nation’s best. Ngo shot a 75 on Stanford’s par 71 course and is tied for 61^st after the first round. Eidhagen Harrouch was one stroke behind, tied for 72^nd at 5-over, 76.
 
“Overall we’re disappointed with the score, but took some positives out of it,” Colorado head coach Anne Kelly said. “It was Maria and Vanessa’s first time playing in the top five, and they both showed a lot of fight and a lot of heart. Maria started feeling more comfortable with her game on the second nine. Vanessa had a couple tough holes but she really fought and never gave up on the round.”
 
Sophomore Morgan Miller had Colorado’s top effort of the day at 2-over, 73. Miller was held without a birdie over the first 15 holes, sitting at 4-over, before rallying with a pair of birdies on her last two holes and is tied for 42^nd after round one.
 
Colorado finished its round on a positive note. The Buffaloes had only eight birdies on the day, but six of them came over the final three holes.
 
“(Finishing strong) is something we talked about as a team, and we were happy to see that, but both (associate head coach) Maddie (Sheils) and I feel this team is capable of much more and hopefully we’ll go out the next two days and keep improving,” Kelly said.
 
Senior Hailey Schalk joined Eidhagen Harrouch and five others with a 75. Freshman Francesca Sumcad is tied for 85^th with a first-round score of 7-over, 78.
 
The Buffaloes were without graduate transfer Sabrina Iqbal who earlier in the day finished off an impressive showing at the LPGA…